World Superbike UxSxA

Whether it be race-wins or wives, Utah is the land of the 'multiple'. Welcome to Miller Motorsports Park in scenic Tooele, Utah.

Haga came into this round with an 80ish point lead over WSBK rookie Ben's Pies. Haga's comfy championship lead is partially due to the fact that The Ben has had some bad luck lately, including a broken gear changer and running out of fuel...both of which cost him wins. Bummer, dude. Spies made it known that, in Utah, anything less than pole position and a double-win just wouldn't make the scene. Spies went ahead and took pole...again. Spies has scored the pole at every round, so far, this year...breaking Doug Polen's previous record of 6 consecutive poles set back in 1990-something or other. The AMA's own Jamie Hacking was filling in for the rarely-uninjured Makoto Tamada on the Paul Bird Kawasaki. Hacker did good to put the green Kwak up in 7th on the starting grid...by far Kawasaki's best qualifying effort in recent memory. Zemke was also there on the Stiggy Honda qualifying somewhere down in 20-something land. Points leader Haga pretty much has a hate/hate relationship with Miller Motorsports Park. Last year, lobbed it in race 1 and broke his collarbone in the process. This year, he highsided himself into the mountains during practice, but still managed to make the 9th on the grid.

Race 1...lights out and Spies immediately hit the front as the whole crew railed into turn one. Haga Bonzai'd his way up to third from 9th on the grid. Hacking was also moving forward as he put some rather impressive moves on the WSBK regulars. Hacking made his way up to 4th before the...that's right...red flag. Aussie Karl Muggeridge had a little 'oopsie' which left him and his bike stranded on the racing line. OK..restart. Spies, again, hits the front and sets sail for the top step of the podium. Carlos Checa, last year's double race winner, brought his Honda home in the first loser's spot. Ducati's Fabrizio rounded out the podium on his...err...Ducati. AMA homeboy Jamie Hacking wrapped things up in 7th spot...not too shabby. Word on the street is that he is actively seeking a fulltime WSBK ride. I'm sure the Euro-Kawasaki squad would welcome him, his hot wife, and bulldogs with open arms.

Race 2...SpeedTV's resident should-be NFL commentator, Ralph Sheheen informed me that when the lights go out, that I should 'Watch out! these guys will be really going for it!'. Thanks, Ralph. I was truly worried that the WSBK boys might just hang out on the grid, play quarters, and make fart jokes. Apparently, Spies doesn't know any fart jokes, because he opted to get the holeshot, lead every lap, set lap record after lap record, and win the race. That is pretty much the jist of race 2. As the race went on, Checa crashed out of 2nd place (par for the course), and Fabrizio was the only rider able to keep Ben and his Pies within spitting distance. At one point, Fabrizio got within 1.5 seconds of Spies. In return, Spies utilized the 6th gear on his 'R' series Yamaha and finished the race with a gap of 9+ seconds. The two British riders Johnny Rea and the ever-flaptastic Leon Haslam went back and forth for the final spot on the podium. Haslam chucked his Honda into the dirt, and Rea went on to spray Champagne. Haga lost points ti Spies, but is still 53 points ahead with 7 rounds (14 races) to go.

Result:

Race 1

1) Ben Spies-Yamaha

2) Carlos Checa-Honda

3) Michel Fabrizio-Ducati

Race 2

1) Ben Spies-Yamaha

2) Michel Fabrizio-Ducati

3) Johnny Rea-Honda

Next stop...San Marino.

T...out.

MotoGp Italy

The proof's in the pudding...God hates MotoGP. Once again, at Mugello, The Lord's tinkle made for another 'wet race'. In MotoGP land, if a race is declared 'wet', the race will be run 'flag-to-flag'...the riders have the option of coming in to change bikes (the second bike must be on different tires) depending on track conditions. In this case, the race started on a damp track that was quickly drying.

So then, on the warm-up lap, Spanish pole-sitter (that never gets old) Lorenzo managed to toss his Yamaha into the soggy gravel. He remounted, pitted, grabbed his spare bike, and took his position on the grid. Cut to the TV shot of one of Lorenzo's mechanics toweling the mud and gravel off of his bum...only in Italy (and the rest of Europe, I suppose).

Anyway...lights out...Lorenzo's start was even crappier than his warm-up lap. Pedrosa got the holeshot from 8th on the grid, followed by Vermeulen and Dovizioso. Rossi, who has won the last 8 races at Moo-Jello, was a ways back in 4th followed by Melandri on the Dorna-sponsored Hayasaki. Homeboy Rossi and Melandri made their way to front, with Melandri actually leading a few laps...meanwhile, Kawasaki introduces a 'totally extreme' new water scooter.

Lap 10, and bike changes ensue...Toseland is the first in and out on slick tires. Melandri, Rossi, Stoner, and Dovi soon followed. After all the hubbub of bike changes, normal service resumed with Dovi at the front followed by Stoner. Stoner went forward, Dovi went backwards, and the Lorenzo/Rossi Yama-train came through. Stoner held on for the win, which caused the Eyetalian fans to go into a frenzy of hugging and cheek kissing. Whether it's a bike, rider, or a loaf of Focaccia bread...as long as it's Italian and crosses the finish line first, The I.T.'s will go bananas. Stoner's win put him back at the top of the championship, followed by Lorenzo, Rossi, and everyone else.

Other stuff...Nicky Hayden rocketed to a 12th place finish...will the Kentucky Kid ever catch a break? On the Duc...methinks not. Pedrosa tipped over on lap 13 and re-re-re injured his little leg bone or something.

Result:

1. Casey Stoner-Ducati

2. Jorge Lorenzo-Yamaha

3. Valentino Rossi-Yamaha

4. Andrea Dovizioso-Honda

5. Loris Capirossi-Suzuki

6. Colin Edwards-Yamaha

7. James Toseland-Yamama

8. Randy de Puniet-Honda

9. Niccolo Canepa-Ducati

10. Chris Vermeulen-Suzuki

11. Marco Melandri-Hayate

12. Nicky Hayden-Ducati

13. Mika Kallio-Ducati

14. Toni Elias-Honda

15. Alex de Angelis-Honda

Fail:

Dani Pedrosa-Honda

Yuki Takahashi-Same as Pedrosa

Next stop...Spain (again). T...out.

A-day

Uda and I go to the swap meet of Mt. Fuji.

am4:00 highway entrance Tokyo
Early in the morning
feel good!!


daybreak


Deep breathing

Mr T(Spice crew) join us

Mt. Fuji is beautiful !!

A-day

swap meet

old dunlop
knife jockey shift

hard core street choppers

VISE crew

http://vise22-satanscrate.blogspot.com/

from Nagoya

Naoki and my pan

Have a good day!!!

A-day

Sakurai

Funamizu







Many really cool motorcycles stopped at the parking lot!!

DEN
http://www.mc-den.com/

Knob

Toru

Way home

Rain and heavy traffic jam.......... sucks

came back Tokyo

good day!!Thanks!!

Undercover in Chinatown

Chinatown - Yokohama, Japan

It's already Sunday. Waaaah, Saturday night went by in a flash (Happy Birthday Smiley). Oh well, at least it's time for an off topic Sunday post. So I was in Japan last weekend for Cool Breaker. My better half was with me and I got to show her an area I used to frequent as a kid visiting relatives. Chukagai aka Chinatown in the city of Yokohama, Japan. Opee from S&S was with us this night which made it even more fun.









Just walking around the place is a trip. So much to look at. So much to eat!

You could get your palm read:
Or see choppers hand-shifting their way through the narrow streets:

And again, lots to eat. Shu Mai pork dumplings, very hot and very fresh. Sold streetside. Less than a buck each, so you know we had to have some:Took me a few minutes and I made Sasha and Opee follow me all over the damn place, but I found it: Daisangen. I used to eat here as a little kid with my mom, uncle, cousin whomever. It was our local dive in Chinatown. They're always open late. But now that I think about it, they close at 10pm. That's how young I was:
The same old man was working there. He remembered me from Cool Breaker 2007. "Good evening - oh! it's the motorcycling American!" he said as I walked in.
Started with a real simple beef broth soup. Very tasty.
I got my "usual" here. Paiko-Chahan. Aka Chinese style fried pork over fried rice. From that description alone you can imagine how good it was:
Sasha had the Xiaolongbao (pronouned kinda like sha-lon-po). Soup dumpings filled with pork and a little soup surrounding it. It's one of the wonders of the world how the soup is held within its bun outer. They steam these pretty fresh, because wherever you order these it takes the longest to be served.











It's the bomb. Call the Department Of Defense. Listen to me, it's the fucking KA-BOOM! Maybe you seen it on TV, it's the same thing Anthony Bourdain ate on his show when he was in China. I've also posted about it once before:
The same old lady was working too:
We went looking for a bar.
I'll see you again Chukagai.